House Speaker Frank McNulty said Monday he would put Rep. Laura Bradford, above, back in charge of the Local Government committee if the House ethics panel votes to dismiss a complaint stemming from her Jan. 25 traffic stop. Bradford said she drank wine the night she was pulled her over but wasn’t drunk. Joe Amon, Denver Post file

Speaker Frank McNulty said he might reinstate a Mesa County lawmaker as chairwoman of a House committee if an ethics panel dismisses a drunken-driving-related complaint against her.

The House Ethics Committee held its first meeting Monday, the same day the Denver district attorney’s office announced it would not file misdemeanor gun charges against Rep. Laura Bradford, R-Collbran.

Bradford has a concealed-weapon permit, but under state law, anyone who is intoxicated cannot be in possession of a firearm.

She said she had three glasses of wine the night Denver police stopped her near the state Capitol but wasn’t drunk.

Police initially said they couldn’t test Bradford because she invoked a little-known state constitutional clause they interpreted to mean a lawmaker couldn’t be arrested during the session.

But in a bombshell news conference, police later announced the sergeant had lied and that Bradford asked at least twice to be tested.

“I will be cooperating with the ethics panel to the extent that I can and anticipate being exonerated,” Bradford said in a statement. “Last week, the Denver Police Department announced that I did not invoke legislative immunity. I believe the ethics panel will arrive at the same conclusion.”

McNulty, R-Highlands Ranch, thought Bradford had used the legislative exemption when he removed her as chairwoman of the Local Government committee. Chairman posts are powerful, as that person controls hearings and witness testimony.

Bradford now sits on only one committee, Health and Environment, giving her the lightest workload of any legislator. Some lawmakers serve on three so-called “committees of reference,” plus other committees.

McNulty said he would “for sure” put Bradford back on Local Government if the House panel votes to dismiss the ethics complaint.

The five-member ethics committee agreed to ask Bradford for e-mails, voice mails, receipts, calendars and other documents relevant to the Jan. 25 incident.

The committee will ask the Denver Police Department for copies of the traffic citation Bradford received and radio calls on the night Bradford was stopped.

But committee members — three Republicans and two Democrats — conceded they aren’t likely to get from police what they most want: testimony about what happened that night.

Denver police spokesman Matt Murray said any statements by officers are now part of an internal-affairs investigation and unavailable.

The ethics panel is headed by Rep. Tom Massey, R-Poncha Springs, with Rep. Claire Levy, D-Boulder, serving as vice chairman. The other members are Republicans Jerry Sonnenberg of Sterling and Brian DelGrosso of Loveland, and Democrat Judy Solano of Brighton.

The photo caption has been corrected in this online archive. Originally, due to an editing error, it was stated that state House Speaker Frank McNulty had promised to return Rep. Laura Bradford to chair of the the Local Government Committee if an ethics complaint against Bradford were dismissed. McNulty said he would return Bradford to the committee, but would only consider returning her to the chair. However, on Friday, with the complaint dismissed, McNulty said he would reinstate Bradford as chair.

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